DVD REVIEWS OF NEW RELEASES.Byline: Rob Lowman Entertainment Editor How 'Batman' came back from the brink Back from the Brink can refer to:
Give credit to Christopher Nolan for reviving the Batman franchise. After Joel Schumacher's messy 1997 ``Batman & Robin'' with a miscast mis·cast tr.v. mis·cast, mis·cast·ing, mis·casts 1. To cast in an unsuitable role. 2. To cast (a role, play, or film) inappropriately. George Clooney, it was going to take more than a black cape and special effects to revive the superhero's fortunes. In ``Batman Begins,'' Nolan goes into the dark history of Bruce Wayne - played superbly by Christian Bale. The chiseled chis·eled or chis·elled adj. Made or shaped with or as if with a chisel: a finely chiseled nose. Adj. 1. , angular actor, who was first seen as a youth in Steven Spielberg's ``Empire of the Sun,'' brings the brooding intensity necessary for this Batman, who is haunted by guilt and fear. This Bruce Wayne is one step away from certifiable cer·ti·fi·a·ble adj. 1. That can or must be certified. Used of infectious, industrial, and other diseases that are required by law to be reported to health authorities. 2. . Imprisoned im·pris·on tr.v. im·pris·oned, im·pris·on·ing, im·pris·ons To put in or as if in prison; confine. [Middle English emprisonen, from Old French emprisoner : en- in China after forsaking his wealth and becoming a criminal, Bruce is rescued by Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson, a smoothly dark figure), who teaches him how to channel his violent tendencies and martial-arts skills. He invites Bruce to join the League of Shadows, which is out to purge the world of corruption, but when he sees this as its own evil, Bruce declines - violently. Armed with a sense of purpose, he returns to his home in corrupt Gotham City and builds his alter ego A doctrine used by the courts to ignore the corporate status of a group of stockholders, officers, and directors of a corporation in reference to their limited liability so that they may be held personally liable for their actions when they have acted fraudulently or unjustly or when , intent on cleaning up the town, which is run by a crime lord played with gusto by Tom Wilkinson and a creepy psychiatrist (Cillian Murphy) who possesses a strange, mind-altering drug. Bruce's only allies are his faithful servant Alfred (a solid Michael Caine); the city's last honest cop, James Gordon, who is given an understated dignity by Gary Oldman; his childhood girlfriend Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes), an assistant district attorney disappointed in the seemingly indifferent Bruce; and Morgan Freeman, a sympathetic employee of Wayne Enterprises who supplies scientific expertise. It's here where things become more familiar, with gadgets - including a tricked-out Batmobile - and great stunts. But Nolan never gets too far away from Bruce as a conflicted avenging angel, raising questions about the difference between vengeance and justice and what it means for the soul. If there are any limitations to ``Batman Begins,'' it's that Nolan is less comfortable in the big action sequences. But that's a little price to pay for the most-intelligent big-budget film of the year. As expected, the two-disc DVD DVD: see digital versatile disc. DVD in full digital video disc or digital versatile disc Type of optical disc. The DVD represents the second generation of compact-disc (CD) technology. is filled with plenty of extras, including one on turning Bale into Batman, as well as the usual behind-the-scenes stuff. Warner was not going to let us forget the previous film versions of the Dark Knight. ``Batman - The Motion Picture Anthology 1989-1997'' has the two Tim Burton films - ``Batman'' and ``Batman Returns'' - and Schumacher's pair - ``Batman Forever'' and ``Batman & Robin.'' ``Batman'' was the best of them. With Michael Keaton as Bruce/Batman and Jack Nicholson as his nemesis the Joker, Burton gave Gotham City a gothic, operatic sweep - a grand spectacle with some terrific high points - particularly the museum scene - that masks some of the story's clunkiness. In ``Batman Returns'' - with Michelle Pfieffer as Catwoman and Danny DeVito as the Penguin - Burton's quirky sensibilities clashed with the comic-book story, making for an odd film with a few moments of interest. Schumacher took a lighter approach in ``Batman Forever,'' with Jim Carrey as the Riddler and Tommy Lee Jones For the musician, see . Tommy Lee Jones (born September 15, 1946) is an Academy Award-winning American actor and director. Biography Early life Jones was born in San Saba, Texas, the son of Clyde C. as Two-Face. The big change was Val Kilmer as the Dark Knight. Kilmer - who was given Nicole Kidman as a love interest - was fine, and he captured the goofier aspects of the role, but like Keaton and Clooney couldn't reconcile the inner and outer man the way Bale does in ``Batman Begins.'' ``Batman Forever'' does succeed in being entertaining but signaled how badly the franchise was going awry. ``Batman & Robin'' proved pretty empty, with overblown special effects and an inane plot. There are plenty of extras in the eight-disc set - certainly enough for fans to go as batty as they want. ``Batman Begins'' (Warner; $38.97 for the two-disc deluxe edition and $28.98 for the regular edition.) ``Batman - The Motion Picture Anthology 1989-1997'' (Warner; $79.92) 'Land of the Dead,' 'Saving Face,' 'Mad Hot Ballroom' You can't kill zombie films, and no one does them better than George Romero. His ``Land of the Dead'' is another classic in the genre, to which Romero gave new life with his 1968 ``Night of the Living Dead.'' In ``Land,'' Dennis Hopper, plays Mr. Kaufman, the dictator of a zombie- free sanctuary called Fiddler's Green within a big city resembling New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of . Outside, slow-moving zombies Zombies Companies that continue to operate even though they are insolvent. Also known as living dead. Notes: It's advisable to avoid investing in zombies at all costs their life expectancies are highly unpredictable. go through the motions of their former lives while preying on living beings for food. Romero has given ``Land'' a political edge. The zombies seem closer to human than the monied, catered-to group in Fiddle's Green. There are plenty of jolts in ``Land,'' but the fact that it has some depth - and I'm not a particular fan of zombie A computer that has been covertly taken over in order to perform some nefarious task. It is estimated that millions of PCs around the world have been compromised and, under the control of a third party, routinely transmit messages unbeknownst to the user. movies - may be its biggest jolt. Alice Wu's romantic comedy, ``Saving Face,'' tackles the question of assimilation in two directions while looking at the lives of three generations of Chinese-Americans in New York. The given is the cultural and racial divide. The second part involves the affair between two Chinese-American women - Wil Pang (Michelle Krusiec), a promising young surgeon, and Vivian Shing (Lynn Chen), a sexy dancer. Complicating matters is Wil's widowed mother (Joan Chen), known as Ma, who has exiled herself at her daughter's apartment after becoming pregnant at 48 and refusing to name the father. While before Ma had been looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. a husband for her daughter, Wil faces the problem of trying to find one for her mother and in the meantime Adv. 1. in the meantime - during the intervening time; "meanwhile I will not think about the problem"; "meantime he was attentive to his other interests"; "in the meantime the police were notified" meantime, meanwhile explaining her own sexuality. Wu walks this tightrope with delicate balance for much of the film, only losing her footing at the end with a feel-good finale - but not before showing her promise as a filmmaker. The documentary ``Mad Hot Ballroom'' looks at a ballroom dancing competition held for schoolchildren schoolchildren school npl → écoliers mpl; (at secondary school) → collégiens mpl; lycéens mpl schoolchildren school in New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. . Watching the kids deal with the pressures and craziness of the event is often charming and amusing, but ``Mad Hot Ballroom'' never goes much beyond that. It's as if in the ballroom, the rest of the world didn't exist - with no real references to the other pressures and problems these kids face. ``Land of the Dead'' (Universal; $29.90) includes commentary by Romero. ``Saving Face'' (Columbia; $26.96) ``Mad Hot Ballroom'' (Paramount; $29.98) 'Lifeboat,' 'The Mask of Zorro zorro: see fox. Zorro masked swordsman, defender of weak and oppressed. [Am. Lit.: comic strip (1919); Am. Cinema: Halliwell, 794; TV: Terrace, II, 461–462] See : Disguise ,' 'The Mark of Zorro,' 'The Jazz Singer,' 'Bruce Lee Ultimate Collection,' 'The Big Lebowski' Alfred Hitchcock's ``Lifeboat'' is one of the master filmmaker's more oddly interesting works. The film takes place in a lifeboat after a German U boat torpedoes a passenger ship. By keeping the action confined, Hitchcock creates a pressure cooker in which to examine human nature. There is a cross-section of people, with Tallulah Bankhead's snobbish snob·bish adj. Of, befitting, or resembling a snob; pretentious. snob  bish·ly adv. journalist, William Bendix as a crewman who's sort of an everyman, and, ironically, the captain of the U boat (Walter Slezak). It's a bit too much like a stage play to be one of Hitchcock's best films, but the director makes it more than a formal exercise. It was easy to be taken with Catherine Zeta-Jones in the 1998 ``The Mask of Zorro.'' She cut as vibrant a figure as Antonio Banderas did with the title character. With the sequel ``The Legend of Zorro'' about to be released in theaters, a special edition of ``Mask'' is out. Both films are directed by Martin Campbell (who will handle the next James Bond film). What made ``Mask'' fun was that it relied on high-flying stunts and the considerable charms of its leads rather than succumbing to tired special-effects tricks. Hopefully, ``Legend'' will be as enjoyable. Rouben Mamoulian's 1940 ``The Mark of Zorro,'' starring Tyrone Power as the man with the sword, is in the swashbuckling swash·buck·le intr.v. swash·buck·led, swash·buck·ling, swash·buck·les To act as a swashbuckler, as in a movie or play. [Back-formation from swashbuckler. tradition of the time. Power is stylish, and the swordplay is still cool. Neil Diamond may be on a high with his tour and a highly anticipated new album, but his starring role in the 1980 remake of ``The Jazz Singer,'' which is out in a 25th anniversary edition, is best left forgotten. Strictly for fans. The box set ``Bruce Lee Ultimate Collection'' is, of course, a misnomer misnomer n. the wrong name. MISNOMER. The act of using a wrong name. 2. Misnomers, may be considered with regard to contracts, to devises and bequests, and to suits or actions. 3.-1. . But the five films included - ``The Big Boss,'' ``Fist of Fury
Fist of Fury (Simplified Chinese: 精武门 ,'' ``Way of the Dragon,'' ``Game of Death'' and ``Game of Death II'' - show off the considerable skills of the martial-arts legend, which is all anyone cares about. And as noted in Sunday's What's Cool, What's Hot column, ``The Big Lebowski'' is out in two special-edition versions. ``Lifeboat - Special Edition'' (Fox; $19.90) includes commentary. ``The Mask of Zorro - Deluxe Edition'' (Columbia; $19.94) includes commentary and deleted scenes. ``The Mark of Zorro - Special Edition'' (Fox; 19.98) ``The Jazz Singer - 25th Anniversary Edition'' (Anchor Bay; $19.90) ``Bruce Lee Ultimate Collection'' (Fox; $49.99) ``The Big Lebowski'' (Universal; Collector's Edition, $19.99; Achiever's Edition, $49.98.) 'CSI: New York,' 'Unscripted,' 'Dark Shadows,' 'Adventures of Superman' Gary Sinese kept the first season of ``CSI CSI Crime Scene Investigator CSI CompuServe, Inc. CSI Commodity Systems, Inc. CSI Commodity Systems Inc. (Boca Raton, FL) CSI Crime Scene Investigation (CBS TV show) CSI Christian Schools International : New York'' on solid footing, even if the crime procedural isn't as slick yet as the original ``CSI.'' HBO's ``Unscripted'' may have seemed like a smart idea, but the Steven Soderbergh/George Clooney executive-produced comedy series about the lives of three struggling young actors plays more inside Hollywood than funny. They tried to revive the vampire soap opera ``Dark Shadows'' in 1991, but it was short-lived, proving you can't always bring back the undead un·dead adj. No longer living but supernaturally animated, as a zombie. . For nostalgia buffs, the first season of ``The Adventures of Superman Adventures of Superman may refer to the following works featuring Superman:
``CSI: New York - The Complete First Season'' (Paramount; $64.99)includes commentary and behind-the-scenes extras. ``Unscripted'' (HBO Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO) A form of oxygen therapy in which the patient breathes oxygen in a pressurized chamber. Mentioned in: Ozone Therapy ; $34.99) ``Dark Shadows The Revival - The Complete Series'' (Columbia; $39.95) ``Adventures of Superman - The Complete First Season''(Warner; $39.98) Rob Lowman, (818) 713-3687 robert.lowman(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): 3 photos Photo: (1) no caption (``Batman Returns'') (2) EUGENE A. CLARK in ``Land of the Dead'' (3) no caption (``The Adventures of Superman'') |
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